How To Lower Blood Sugar Pregnancy – Pregnancy brings great joy to our lives, but it also brings changes in our hormones. These hormones not only cause changes in our bodies, but also affect our mood, sleep patterns, food aversions, and food cravings. If you have a sweet tooth, these changes become a way to have sweets more often. Hormonal changes associated with an unhealthy diet can result in increased blood sugar levels, leading to gestational diabetes. However, a plant-based diet can help you manage gestational diabetes, and have a healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Before jumping to know the benefits of a plant-based diet for this condition, let’s first understand what is gestational diabetes and what are the risks associated with it.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that is first diagnosed during pregnancy. Like other types of diabetes, the way cells use sugar (or glucose) is affected. This causes an increase in the level of sugar in the blood, which can affect the pregnancy and the health of the child. It is usually found during pregnancy; Women are screened for diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.
The exact cause of gestational diabetes is not understood; however, there are many factors that play a role. Generally, blood sugar levels are controlled by hormones. But during pregnancy, changes in hormone levels affect the body’s ability to process blood sugar effectively, which in turn increases blood sugar levels.
Gestational diabetes, if not controlled, can lead to complications such as the need for cesarean delivery, increased risk of high birth weight, premature birth, difficulty breathing in the child, low blood sugar in the child. , obesity and diabetes in old age, stillbirth. Women with gestational diabetes are also at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes after giving birth.
However, the good news is that gestational diabetes can be controlled by eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and taking certain medications.
A plant-based diet focuses on foods found primarily in plants. This means that you choose to eat more from plant sources than from animal sources. This includes the right proportions of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, beans, legumes and whole grains.
Several studies have shown that a plant-based diet helps prevent type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. As more vegetables and fruits are eaten in a plant-based diet, more fiber is consumed. This is known to reduce gastric emptying (the time it takes for food to leave the stomach and enter the small intestine) and thereby reduce the glycemic response (the decrease in blood glucose after eating), and reduce inflammation and fat storage in the blood. courage. . Unsaturated fatty acids found in nuts and olive oil improve insulin sensitivity, which means it helps lower blood sugar levels. A plant-based diet also increases insulin production, thereby lowering blood sugar levels.
Scientific evidence shows that women with gestational diabetes have increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers. A plant-based diet can increase levels of antioxidants that can work against oxidative stress. It is also known to reduce the symptoms of inflammation, thus helping to better manage gestational diabetes.
Now that you have learned how a plant-based diet can be beneficial in managing gestational diabetes, here are some general guidelines while following a plant-based diet:
During pregnancy, especially if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, your loved ones recommend different steps for a healthy pregnancy. Learn the benefits of a plant-based diet, why not try to manage your gestational diabetes. You can always consult your doctor or nutritionist to help you plan a balanced plant-based diet. Content By: Dr. Nikita Toshi BDS, Assistant Manager (Medical Review), Dr. Ritu Budania MBBS, MD (Pharmacology) Head, Medical Affairs & Dt. Ami Shah PG Clinical Nutrition (cardiovascular and diabetes), registered dietitian and diabetes educator
Pregnancy is a time of great joy in a woman’s life. But as the body adapts to help grow and nourish the baby, monitoring the health of the mother and the unborn child is important to avoid any problems during pregnancy. And if the mother develops diabetes, there are many chances that it can affect the health of the child. There may be a lot of unnecessary advice from friends and family, which makes the mother nervous. So, instead of listening to the naysayers, let’s learn more about gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is a condition associated with pregnancy. Although gestational diabetes has the potential to have a negative impact on the mother and her unborn child, research has shown that following a healthy gestational diabetes diet can greatly help the mother manage the condition.
But before explaining the detailed diet of gestational diabetes, let’s first go into the questions associated with it. Questions like what is gestational diabetes, other symptoms of gestational diabetes, risk factors and causes of gestational diabetes and later how to treat gestational diabetes with a healthy diet.
Gestational diabetes mellitus, also known as gestational diabetes, is a condition in which a woman develops diabetes or high sugar levels during pregnancy. One of the three types of diabetes, gestational diabetes can occur regardless of whether the expectant mother had diabetes before pregnancy or not.
However, it usually occurs in those who have never had diabetes before. Gestational diabetes during pregnancy does not mean that you will always have high blood sugar after you give birth. For most women, it goes away soon after giving birth. But unfortunately, if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, the chances of developing diabetes mellitus 2 are high in the future.
Gestational diabetes usually appears at the end of the second trimester, especially between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. Usually, at the end of the second trimester, it is common for your diabetes doctor to perform a test for gestational diabetes as a preventive measure. If left untreated or undiagnosed, gestational diabetes can increase your baby’s risk of developing diabetes in the future. Therefore, it is better if we treat it in time so that we can reduce the risk and complications with gestational diabetes during pregnancy and childbirth. In these cases, a diet prescribed by a gestational diabetes dietitian can greatly help control the mother’s sugar levels and keep the baby safe.
In this chapter, we look at some of the complications of gestational diabetes and how it affects the baby. Complications can harm the developing baby and that is why timely diagnosis is important to help control its effects during pregnancy. A pregnant mother, as well as her baby, can have problems with gestational diabetes. Here are some ways gestational diabetes can affect your baby:
Excessive birth weight – High blood sugar levels during pregnancy can lead to their babies growing larger than normal. This is a type of complication of gestational diabetes that can lead to birth defects or an emergency C-section delivery, as the baby will be less likely or unable to pass through the birth canal.
Premature birth – This is closely related to high birth weight where a woman will be forced to give birth before the due date due to the size of the baby.
Shortness of breath – A major complication of gestational diabetes in which babies soon after birth may have shortness of breath – a serious condition that prevents breathing.
Low blood sugar levels – Although gestational diabetes is associated with low blood sugar levels, some babies may experience the opposite shortly after birth. A very low blood sugar level can lead to frequent seizures in children. However, supervised breastfeeding sessions and the provision of intravenous glucose solutions at regular intervals can be used to treat low blood sugar levels during birth.
Obesity in the future – Children born to mothers with gestational diabetes are more likely to be overweight and develop type 2 diabetes later in life.
Childbirth – Gestational diabetes without treatment and without monitoring during pregnancy can lead to the death of the child before or shortly after birth.
Although we have seen how gestational diabetes in pregnant women poses a risk to the baby, it can also affect the expectant mother. Let’s look at some of the complications of gestational diabetes that can harm the mother:
High blood pressure – Pregnant mothers with diabetes are at risk of developing high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy complication that usually occurs during the 20th week or even after delivery. If left untreated, it can cause high blood pressure, headaches, blurred vision, protein in the urine, fluid retention and organ damage that can be life-threatening for both mother and baby. This can cause developmental problems in the child as he grows up. Although the causes of pre-eclampsia are not complete, they are often related to problems with the placenta.
C-Section Delivery – Although it is not actually a complication of gestational diabetes, due to increased birth weight and baby size, mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes are more likely to have a C-section instead of a normal vaginal delivery.
Diabetes later in life – A history of gestational diabetes can predispose the mother to the condition
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